


That's Family

by friendlyneighborhoodsecretary



Series: I'm Never Prompt with Prompts [14]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Adult Peter Parker, Gen, Irondad, Luckily Tony Can Be Reassuring, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Peter Parker is a Nervous Dad, Soon-to-Be Grandpa Tony Stark, Spideychelle, That's Just the Way It Is, Tony Stark Has A Heart, ironfam, pregnancy announcement
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-06
Updated: 2020-02-06
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:21:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,652
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22581679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/friendlyneighborhoodsecretary/pseuds/friendlyneighborhoodsecretary
Summary: Few things are scarier for a superhero than parenthood. And no one knows that better than Tony Stark.
Relationships: Michelle Jones/Peter Parker (mentioned), Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: I'm Never Prompt with Prompts [14]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558726
Comments: 9
Kudos: 97





	That's Family

**Author's Note:**

> From the prompts: "Don't. Panic." and "Don't tell May!"

“MJ’s pregnant.” Peter’s voice comes out in a whisper, barely audible over the last of the summer crickets and the rhythmic lap of the lake against the dock in the distance. Even so, the words feel loud enough— _big_ enough, maybe—to reverberate through Tony’s chest in a hot burst of excitement that comes perilously close to physically bowling him off his spot on the porch steps at Peter’s side.

It isn’t as if the idea of Peter and MJ expanding the family is so great a shock—they’ve been together for a solid decade, long past the various milestones that so often build up to pregnancy announcements and baby showers and the like—but the tangle of emotions the revelation sparks does leave Tony scrambling to say anything coherent that isn’t painfully sappy. Or at least, it _would_ , if Peter didn’t look even more nervy than he had before walking in to defend his doctoral thesis and at least as heartsick as he often did in the aftermath of patrols that didn’t quite manage to save everyone.

It’s not the reaction Tony expects. But—as concerning as it is—there’s a sense of déjà vu about it. A very personal familiarity with the look on Peter’s face. Tony sighs as he stows the excitement away for later and slings a gentle arm around Peter’s shoulders.

“My gut says to tell you congratulations, but seeing as how I’ve seen you look more enthusiastic about root canals, it seems like you’ve got a little more than that on your mind.”

Peter snorts, low and humorless as he stares out over the lake as if the murky reflections will somehow provide answers he can’t find on his own. For a moment, Tony is forcibly jerked back to the uncomfortably uncertain months before Morgan was born when he was the one in that particular hot seat, looking out over the same lake with the same look of desperate panic. He squeezes Peter’s shoulder a little tighter.

“Don’t tell May. We..uh…we haven’t told _anyone_ yet,” Peter mutters, idly sloshing the contents of his coffee mug around. “Except for Bruce, anyway. Since we can’t really talk to a regular OBGYN, just in case there’s anything…different…about the baby. He’s got more experience with enhanced physiology than anyone else in the field, so…yeah.”

“Yeah?” That, at least, is a relief. There aren’t many doctors Tony trusts with his family, even in the simple things, let alone the complex ones. And with a matter as precious as MJ’s care in the months to come, as precious as Peter and MJ’s first child— _his_ first grandchild, now that he takes the time to really think of it—the options are very limited indeed. The knowledge that Bruce is already on the case is reassuring enough to let some of Tony’s original excitement leak back in amongst the concern. “And how is Spider-Baby 2.0 doing so far?”

“Bruce says everything looks normal. Healthy. But…” Peter trails off and finally shrugs, his brow furrowing even deeper into the concerned little v Tony knows so well. “…it’s really too early to tell whether or not it’s going to inherit anything from me. There’s still a chance, though.”

“Wasn’t there always a chance of that?”

“Technically, yes, but this was…kind of a surprise. We’d planned on waiting on kids until later, until I’d had time to do more DNA research, until we were sure this wouldn’t affect anything, but now it’s _happening_ and we don’t know if it’s going to be like me or if it’s going to come out with eight legs and spinnerets or if—” Peter’s voice rises with each possibility he ticks off until he’s all but crying under the weight of his worry, of the very personal terror of what he might have given the kid. It’s enough to come near breaking Tony’s heart. If for no other reason, simply because Tony knows the feeling. Not, perhaps, in the way of inherited super-strength and shared superpowers, but certainly in the guilt of passing on a legacy too big to be escaped. He’s fretted over that since the instant he knew Morgan existed. And even in the years before, when Peter first declared that all he wanted was to be like Tony. He’s had plenty of time to come to terms with it and yet it still frightens him. He can’t blame Peter for being afraid when he’s only just discovered how much there is to be afraid of. And afraid for.

“Kid. Pete. _Peter!_ ” Tony gives him a gentle shake around the shoulders to halt the explosion of words, and Peter finally sags into his grip, more like the teenager he once knew than the man he’d grown into. Tony speaks slowly, poking him in the chest for emphasis. “Listen to me on this: don’t. Panic.”

Peter opens his mouth again to protest, his face still scrunched with a desperate sort of panic, but Tony forges ahead.

“Ah, ah, ah—the adultier adult is talking. As I was saying, try not to panic. I know I can’t pretend to know what this exact situation feels like, but I _do_ know that—spider DNA or not—fatherhood is terrifying without taking on the worry for things that may never happen.”

“But they _could_ happen.”

“They could,” Tony admits. He knows it’s possible that the kid will be climbing ceiling before it takes its first steps. But he suspects that what scares Peter the most has less to do with what a baby spider will get up to and more to do with the inevitable teenager with Peter’s powers and—in all likelihood—the Parker sense of responsibility will throw itself into. Tony has a vision of another homemade suit and another set of bulky, bedroom-manufactured web-shooters and barely suppresses the urge for a heavy sigh. It’s a fair worry, he has to give Peter that. But that isn’t an admission that’s going to help just now. “But even if they do, it’s not the end of the world, kid.”

Tony takes in a slow breath and lets himself go, drawing on that spark of joy that had first blinked into existence when Peter let the news slip. On the idle dreams he’d harbored for a retirement that he’d hoped would one day include a few of his kids’ kids wreaking havoc around the place. On the million happy little vignettes he envisions whenever the thought of his family’s future plays across his mind. Those are the dreams he holds close when the worry seeps in. He hopes they can be just as effective for chasing away the gloom for Peter.

“May and I are still going to fight over prime babysitting hours. Morgan’s still going to enable all kinds of mischief—don’t ever let her babysit, by the way, it’d turn into a free-for-all.” That gets the faintest glimmer of a smile from Peter, and Tony takes it as a good omen. “Pepper’s still going to be infuriatingly good at getting it to nap without a fight when you come over for holidays. She always was with Morgan; I swear it’s some kind of latent superpower…”

“Or it could just be that she’s less of a sucker for the fifteen bedtime stories and the—”

“Shhh—this is no time for sass, I’m not done with my examples yet.” Tony punctuates the reprimand with a ruffle of Peter’s hair. He’s never really gotten past that habit, not even now, when Peter is just as tall (if not a fraction of an inch taller) than Tony. Nor does he expect that he ever will, even now that Peter’s going to be a father in his own right. The thought of it raises a traitorous lump in the back of his throat, and his eyes prickle with something wet and inconvenient. He clears his throat, wrinkles his nose with a single, conciliatory sniff, and moves forward. He’s not going to cry over this. He’s _not._ A few months from now, when he’s got the actual baby in his arms, he doubts he’ll have the choice, so he refuses to get sappy this early on. “Happy’s gonna be wrapped around its little finger. He’ll spoil it rotten, just like he did with Morgan, and so will Rhodey for that matter. They’ll buy out entire toy stores if you don’t keep an eye on ‘em.”

“Somehow, that sounds more like a you problem than a them problem. Are you sure that _wasn’t_ you?”

“I both resent and resemble that, young man.” _That_ gets a muted chuckle, which is an even better omen. Tony pats the shoulder he’s still got a grip on, tugging Peter closer still for as crushing an embrace as he can manage while perching on the porch steps. “Point is, we’re all gonna love that kid regardless of whether it’s got eight legs or can manufacture its own webs or if it has pincers—”

Peter groans and elbows Tony in the ribs in just the same instant that Tony’s voice drops into something softer and steadier and more sincere.

“—and we’re all going to be there for that kid—and for you—if it ever decides to take up crime-fighting in its pajamas or when it goes to MIT or whatever else the baby gets up to. No matter what.”

Peter sighs. The worry wrinkle between his brows is still there. But a measure of the weight behind his eyes has lifted. He doesn’t quite smile when he glances up to meet Tony’s eyes, but there’s a certain lightness there all the same.

“That’s a…that’s a big commitment. With Parker luck being what it is.”

“Nah,” Tony says as he plucks Peter’s coffee mug to steal a gulp. The move gets a muffled snort and a muted half-smile, just as he knew it would. “That’s family.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading, friends! <3 <3 <3


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